NA LCS: Evil Geniuses and Dignitas Pick Up their First Victories in Day 2

Heading into Day 2 of the North American LCS, Cloud 9 and Curse sit comfortably at the top of the bracket undefeated, while some old favorites haven't yet picked up a win. Let's jump right in and see what happened today!

Curse vs XDG

Curse

XD.GG

Kills

Turrets

Gold

Gold

Turrets

Kills

29

9

67.3k

52.3k

2

12

Lineup

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Top

Quas

Karthus

6/3/6

Top

Benny

Shyvana

5/1/5

Jungle

IWDominate

Pantheon

6/2/13

Jungle

Zuna

Vi

4/6/5

Mid

Voyboy

Akali

11/3/11

Mid

mancloud

Yasuo

1/10/3

Marksman (AD Carry)

Cop

Caitlyn

5/1/13

Marksman (AD Carry)

Xmithie

Jinx

2/8/5

Support

Zekent

Annie

1/3/14

Support

BloodWater

Leona

0/4/7

Bans

Kayle

Olaf

Elise

Riven

Kha'Zix

Kassadin

Day 2 of the NA LCS started off with a match between Curse and XDG, and what better way to get things under way than with some extremely unconventional picks? Curse’s last two picks were Akali for Voyboy in the middle lane, and Karthus for Quas in top lane.

Akali generally doesn’t make many appearances in high-level play, but clearly Curse thought she was the answer to Yasuo in mid lane. It’s hard to argue with the results, evidenced both by Voyboy’s 11/3/11 line and the 1/10/3 score for mancloud. Particularly when we consider that mancloud is considered among the best mid laners in NA, this was extremely impressive.

Curse’s team comp pulled out a few interesting strategies: First, the global presence from the ultimates of both Pantheon and Karthus. Second, the extreme early game pressure of Pantheon jungle, combined with scary late game champions like Akali and Karthus. It worked out to perfection for them, and they were able to use these strategies to take the win.

Cloud 9 vs Counter Logic Gaming

Cloud 9

Counter Logic Gaming

Kills

Turrets

Gold

Gold

Turrets

Kills

17

9

60.0k

46.5k

5

12

Lineup

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Top

Balls

Dr. Mundo

0/3/9

Top

Nien

Shyvana

3/1/1

Jungle

Meteos

Elise

7/0/7

Jungle

Link

Vi

1/5/4

Mid

Hai

Zed

4/3/2

Mid

HotshotGG

Cassiopeia

1/4/2

Marksman (AD Carry)

Sneaky

Lucian

6/2/6

Marksman (AD Carry)

Doublelift

Jinx

5/4/3

Support

LemonNation

Thresh

0/5/12

Support

Aphromoo

Annie

2/3/7

Bans

LeBlanc

Nidalee

Kayle

Kassadin

Yasuo

Kha'Zix

One of the biggest stories of the last split of the NA LCS was the record-setting KDA ratio of 12.7 achieved by Meteos. As his 7/0/7 line in this game can attest, he is still fully capable of maintaining a ridiculous score while being a huge factor for his team.

Perhaps the most intriguing matchup in this game was in the mid lane. After Bjergsen did it yesterday for TSM, Hai went with the Zed pick in this game. These two players are known for playing a lot against each other, and sharing information, so perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. What was almost shocking, however, was HotshotGG’s choice to go with Cassiopeia here. A very rare pick indeed, it created a buzz in the crowd. It’s almost sad that we didn’t get to see it make an impact.

The other lane people had their eyes on was the bottom lane. After the reunion of the “Rush Hour lane” for CLG, many wanted to see how they stacked up against Sneaky and LemonNation. Great plays were made on both sides, and Doublelift definitely did his part to help his team. However, superior coordination and objective control led to Cloud 9’s eventual victory.

Dignitas vs Team Solo Mid

Dignitas

Team Solo Mid

Kills

Turrets

Gold

Gold

Turrets

Kills

3

1

29.3k

46.1k

9

19

Lineup

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Top

Cruzer

Trundle

0/5/1

Top

Dyrus

Warwick

0/0/7

Jungle

Crumbzz

Lee Sin

1/3/1

Jungle

TheOddOne

Elise

3/0/7

Mid

Scarra

Yasuo

2/5/0

Mid

Bjergsen

Leblanc

13/1/1

Marksman (AD Carry)

Imaqtpie

Lucian

0/4/3

Marksman (AD Carry)

WildTurtle

Jinx

2/1/8

Support

KiWiKiD

Annie

0/2/3

Support

Xpecial

Thresh

1/1/10

Bans

Renekton

Zed

Shyvana

Kassadin

Gragas

Dr. Mundo

When you speak of one sided games, typically you're talking about things like objective control, team fighting and the like - this time around it was all about the so called "Bjergerking". Bjergsen was everywhere Dignitas wanted to be in this matchup, completely shredding Scarra in lane and picking off individual members of Dignitas left, right and center. His 13/1/1 record allowed him to get his team rolling, offering not just the damage he put out, but assists for his team to get ahead on the rest of the map.

Even when he wasn't there, TSM were able to take team fights handily. TSM used this gold lead generated by Bjergsen to take a 19:30 Baron, the fastest we've seen this split of the LCS. After that, there wasn't much left for Dignitas to do but roll over and die as they fell to 0-2 on the week.

Evil Geniuses vs Counter Logic Gaming

Evil Geniuses

Counter Logic Gaming

Kills

Turrets

Gold

Gold

Turrets

Kills

16

10

59.6k

43.0k

2

3

Lineup

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Top

Innox

Dr. Mundo

4/1/8

Top

Nien

Shyvana

1/5/1

Jungle

Snoopeh

Olaf

3/0/9

Jungle

Link

Elise

1/2/2

Mid

Pobelter

Kha'Zix

5/0/2

Mid

HotshotGG

Nidalee

0/4/1

Marksman (AD Carry)

Yellowpete

Caitlyn

2/1/8

Marksman (AD Carry)

Doublelift

Ezreal

1/4/0

Support

Innox

Thresh

2/1/5

Support

Aphromoo

Leona

0/1/2

Bans

LeBlanc

Jinx

Annie

Kassadin

Ziggs

Gragas

The Evil Geniuses have not been having a good week so far. Of course to say that is somewhat of an understatement - after getting shredded yesterday against XD.GG and Team Solo Mid, they needed a win to really get back in the game.

Fortunately for them, Coast would deliver them one on a silver platter. They attempted to get the game rolling early by attempting a pre level 6 Dragon fight. However, EG was in perfect position to contest, and a well placed ward allowed Innox on Dr. Mundo to teleport into the fight right next to Doublelift, taking him out of the fight early. This allowed EG to mop up and take a team fight 4 for 1.

After that, it was all downhill for CLG, as EG rotated from objective to objective and caught CLG out in their own jungle several times. Each time they caught someone out, it was another objective secured, until EG rolled into the base of CLG and took their first victory of the LCS.

Coast vs Team Dignitas

Team Coast

Dignitas

Kills

Turrets

Gold

Gold

Turrets

Kills

3

2

41.1k

58.0k

10

15

Lineup

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Position

Player

Champion

K/D/A

Top

ZionSpartan

Yasuo

1/3/1

Top

Cruzer

Dr. Mundo

0/1/6

Jungle

Nintendude

Elise

0/4/1

Jungle

Crumbzz

Wukong

3/1/11

Mid

Shiphtur

Kayle

1/0/1

Mid

Scarra

Karthus

3/1/8

Marksman (AD Carry)

WizFuujiN

Varus

1/5/1

Marksman (AD Carry)

Imaqtpie

Jinx

6/0/4

Support

Daydreamin

Thresh

0/3/2

Support

KiWiKiD

Annie

3/0/11

Bans

Renekton

Gragas

Shyvana

LeBlanc

Kassadin

Ziggs

After falling to 0-2 earlier in the day, Dignitas was pitted up against the only other team left to not secure themselves a victory in Coast. Both of these teams seem be having trouble against the higher tier LCS teams in Cloud 9, XD.GG and TSM.

However, that's not to say either of these teams are bad, and Dignitas certainly proved it here today. Crumbzz on Wukong was the standout performer of the match wracking up an impressive 14 KDA this match - his presence around the map allowed Scarra and Imaqtpie to get rolling over their opposites on Coast.

The play that seemingly made the game for Dignitas came early, when Coast decided to take an early Dragon, and allowed Dignitas to continue pressuring the top lane. This allowed them to move ahead on turrets, and allowed Crumbzz the time he needed to focus on the middle and bottom lanes. It also allowed Cruzer to begin roaming the map as well, taking team fights on Dignitas' terms rather than Coast's.

All of this added up to an easy victory for Scarra and crew - they move to 1-2, leaving Coast the only team left with no victories in the NA LCS after 2 days.

Recent Comments

About the Author

Dustin "Deitis" Steiner

Dustin's an eSports veteran of 5+ years and has done everything from compete himself in Street Fighter 4, to organizing FGC events but specializes in observing trends and telling the stories that make up the wide world of eSports and competitive gaming, one game at a time.